Technical Field
The present invention is in the technical field of electric power generation. More specifically, in the technical field of ambient air cooling at the inlet of gas combustion turbine generators.
Related Art
It is known to use water and air chilling systems to cool the ambient air at the inlet to gas combustion turbine generators. Doing so allows for an increased output of the gas turbines whenever the ambient air temperature is higher than the temperature of the air that can be produced by the chilling systems.
Current practice as presented in active or expired U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,193,352, 5,444,971, 5,790,972, 6,318,065, 6,470,686, and 6,769,258 have deficiencies in regards to energy efficiency when operating at either full design or reduced air cooling loads, and/or flexibility of operation to make use of non-mechanical and/or adiabatic air cooling, and/or in air filtration capability.